Grit E5 Some of the most classic grit lines are E5, particularly aretes. Most of the routes of this grade hail from the renaissance of the 1970's, except for the well protected technical desperates from the mid 80's, training for the harder routes to come

The E5s
SAFE but technical	Vanquished E5 6b Stanage Tricky 'break to break'ing up wall between the Unconquerables. Excellent gear in Left Unconquerable, Friend 1 near top. Low in the grade. F6c+ to top-rope. Nettle Wine E5 6b Cratcliffe Tor Hard moves between breaks, but with good rests and gear at your feet. Friend 3.5 needed for the top. Strapadictomy E5 6a Froggatt Tricky (but lovely) lower arete leads to bomber gear in the break and good medium nuts into the hanging crack (awkward to place, especially so for the short who may have to put it in when they get there!), powerful lay-backing, and delicate finish. Probably more like E4 6b than E5 6a, and easier if you're gangly. F7a Climber: Julian Webb White Wall E5 6b Millstone Technical wall climbing with spaced, good gear (if you trust RPs and a very old peg!). Soft touch for this grade, the crux is actually gaining the thin crack under the overlap (takes RP2 and RP3). F7a Spock's Missing E5 6b Froggatt Front face of Chequers Buttress, side runners either side (if you can reach into Chequers Buttress) and safe fall-out zone should prevent injury, should you fall off the technical long reaches above Entropy's Jaw E5 6b Roaches Good RPs (though hard to place on lead) protect the brilliant friction climbing to gain and climb thin seam. Sprags obligatory. The fall from the top has been tested (solo). F7a Narcissus II E5 6b Froggatt Runout and reachy, but over quickly and with a safe fall-out zone (assuming no-one is climbing the first pitch of Valkyrie). Calvary Direct E5 6a/b Stanage The blunt arete left of Calvary. Pre-placed Friend 2 in Calvary protects the initial long reach for very slopey ramp. F1.5's in next break and somewhat eliminate climbing using brittle crimps to join Calvary in top break (F0.5 and F2.5). Not a great route, being spoilt by close proximity to Calvary but something for the collector. F7a Moolah E5 6b Rivelin Easier than the neighbouring New Mediterranean, RP2s and HB quadcam 00 in the break. Might be 6c if you have a low crimp pain-tolerance for your finger-tips. F3ish in top break. F7a+ Diamond Life E5 6b Chatsworth Amble up to the break (gear). Then it's a fairly powerful move followed by running it out a bit on sequency and fingery ground. So long as you don't mind facing a longish fall, one to go at for an aspiring E5. Get it done. Blockbuster E5 6b/c (morpho) Ramshaw Essentially an alternative start to Dangerous Crocodile Snogging. Start in Chamelion Crack and break out right making a few technical moves to gain the 'large' hold in the middle of the wall. Finish direct. Better protected than the original line but a fall would still lead to a nasty clatter. Height dependant. Poppers E5 6c Baslow Center of the undercut wall left of Grand Potato in the Cave area. Blind dyno just above good gear in break. The Children's House E5 6c Cratcliffe Tor Wall right of Suicide Wall, all the way to a classic grit step up to reach the top, with good gear just below your feet. A real boulder problem in the sky! New Mediterranean E5 6c Rivelin Good RP2s in the break protect the crux, getting into using the obvious undercut and the reachy stretch to the pocket. A classic. F7a+/7b The Great Flake E5 6b Caley Quite strenuous but over quite quickly, however lots of cunning is still required! Large Friend in top flake protects this classic. Stanage Without Oxygen E5 6c Stanage Bomber gear in the break protect the hard sequence on slopers to gain the next good break. Is it me, or can noone do this move? Shirley's Shining Temple E5 6c/7a Stanage Solo. Extended bouldering up a very steep slab! Fairly good landing though. Recently lost a 'crucial' pebble, but reascended by Peter Robins, early 1999. Probably 7a. Scoop de Grace E5 7a Running Hill Pits Solo. Problem start on tiny crimps to reach a hanging scoop - one of the first routes to be graded 7a in the UK. Harder since a crucial hold experienced someone too heavy for it. You just don't know your own strength do you Matt? The rest doesn't look easy and is definately bold! National Acrobat E5 6c/7a Ramshaw Well protected but hideous mantel on a skin-ripping fist-jam. Ahead of its time, or only suitable for extreme masochists? Sole Power E5 6c/7a Froggatt Desperate slapping up a hanging arete, with your feet on nothing! Essentially an extended boulder problem, though many folk try top-roping it! Does not see many (any?) ascents. F7b+
SAFE but sustained	Left Wall E5 6a Brimham One of the best routes on grit. Steep wall climb, with spaced, good protection. Friend 2.5 useful in the middle. Crux at top involving technical undercutting and pinching. Inverted Friend 0.5 in the top pocket. F6c Climber: Rick Matthews Moon Crack E5 6b Curbar Short powerful crack, good gear if you can take a hand off to place it, but GOD! it's powerful. Bat Out Of Hell E5 6a/b Higgar Tor Safe run-out at crux, up overhanging wall via crimpy layback. Harder for short. Take a F2.5 for top break Perfect Day E5 6b Gardoms Long but safe run-out, hard to place gear, technical crux moving between sloping breaks. Caricature E5 6b Hen Cloud Big class route. High runners in gully and 2nd belayer beneath Bachelors LH reduce the danger of the nasty sequence out onto the front face and a goof flake with runners. One hard move using a mono and you're nearly there. F7a London Wall E5 6a Millstone Big route, lots of stamina required, more gear than you have probably got energy to place. First crack is the technical crux; rest, easier crack, rest, leave the rack, and final heave to the top. F7a/7a+ for effort. Goosey Goosey Gander E5 6a Stanage Well protected, but desperate to stop and place gear. No rest points available, mean this is a serious sandbag at E4 in guidebooks! Offspring E5 6b Burbage South Amazing wander along the break and groove of the Cioch block. Starting from an abseil to the arete (or belay if you can convince anyone to hang there). Good small Friends protect the crux, moving up the groove and rolling onto the top. On Stone Monkey, Dawes deliberately obstained from gear en route to create a more photo-exciting fall - nutter. Pacific Ocean Wall E5 6b Stanage High side-runners on left and right protect this very crimpy wall - has been done with only the RH side-runner. Reachy, and desperate to on-sight without chalked up holds! F7a+ Headless Chicken E5 6b Stanage Reachy overlap climbing, like much of Stanage really, through the overhangs left of Off With His Head. The crux is gaining the hanging pocket near the top. Heath Robinson E5/6 6b Stanage A fine route, and the finish is as slopey as you'd imagine. Eminently photogenic too. Nasty start ("E3??") made more comfortable with a 00 Quadcam, sustained 'breaking', and the top top-out: F1.5 to 0.5 handy. F7a in anything other than freezing fog. Indian Summer E5/6 6c Stanage Break to break climbing, so should be reasonably well protected, though looks like a bold and brittle first half, though this was part of an old E3, BP Super that traversed to the big flake of Tower Face. Might be E6 6c since some pebbles(?) came off: let me know if you've done it.
BOLD and technical	The Knock E4/5 5c Burbage South Short arete, crux is getting to the jug at half height, but which of the following protects the top? Is it: (a) small opposing wires (b) a very small Friend (c) a skyhook on the jug, (d) no poncing about, a 00 peanut, or (e) a spotting team with cushions? Make your choice (you may choose more than one) and make the final "5b" moves to safety. More beta available from Rob Harper here [opens new window]. Green Death E5 5c (6b start) Millstone Desperate 6b start (or pile of stones) though confidence boost of doing start makes upper bit easier. VS 4c to two thirds height where one (5b) move gains ledge to clip old peg from (spooky for the short). Awkward moves above to finish. Has been soloed (ie. without peg) for "fun". Silver Lining E5 5c/6a Froggatt Sling on lowest chockstone, and F0.5s to the right give distant protection for the precarious laybacking above - easy to do the moves, hard to stick to the same sequence. A jumping (ie. sacrificial) belayer might make it relatively safe. F6a+ On The Air E5 6a Wharncliffe F0.5 in the thin break on the front face protects the hard 6a moves up to gain the next (non) break, where a dodgy looking F2.5 to the left will give little comfort. One sharp pull on a sharp pocket should see you to the next break, better gear, easier climbing and a enormous sense of well being. F6c Nature Trail E5 6b Roaches, Skyline Better than the guidebook suggests: hard pull onto the slab, F2s and F2.5 in low pocket (you don't need gear in Wings), and blast up the slab with the last move being the crux. F6c Edge Lane E5 5c Millstone The democratic process works: this is no longer in the SAFE catagory. Straightforward climbing with inverted Rock 8/9 (on cord) to protect upper section. Thought by some to be low in the grade though others feel its 'ard... Best climbed ground-up over a lifetime. Pseudonym E5 6b Black Rocks Unprotected rock-over over bulge onto slab (At last! A move that's easier for the short!). Long reach to rounded break, gear and rounded arete climbing. Has been onsighted. Low in the grade? F6c+ The Tempest E5 6a/b Rivelin Poor RPs or RnRs, small Alien and thread behind very hollow flake is all the (shit) protection for the reasonably straight-forward but intimidating rock-overs above. RPs and HB quadcam 00 in the top break. Has been on-sighted. F6c Artless E5 6b Froggatt Solo. Tricky dyno or very high rockover gains the sloping ramp, followed by technical moves up the ramp lead to Great Slab. Reasonable landing with spotting team; much easier for the tall, they should find something challenging like Great Slab or something. F6c for everyone else Hairless Heart E5 5c Froggatt I might yet put this into the SAFE catagory. Yes, SAFE. It's got gear: a reasonable skyhook on the ledge of Great Slab and an poor RP1 at the base of the flake. Very much faith-in-friction climbing. F6a Great Arete E5 5c Millstone Hardest of the trio of E5s around here. One useless runner above stance with hard moves to pass it, eases afterwards. Thin Air E5 6a Roaches, Lower Tier Solo. Hard (but nice) rock-over leads to easily fluffable finishing stretch. Bad landing. Climber: Julian Webb Origin Of The Species E5 6a Froggatt Low Friends, hard rockover on the pocketed slab, and a nasty finish. RP0, and Rock'n'Rollers 1 and 2 are the crap gear in the top break. F6b+ Poached Salmon E5 6b Bamford The arete to the right of Curving Crack until the high break (medium Friends), then head for the flake at the top of the slab, via some cunning pebble manouvers. F7a Track Of The Cat E5 6a Roaches Powerful start, technical groove, culminating in an insecure, smeary reach for the top, with gear a little too far away for comfort (Good gear in low pocket and RPs in groove). F6c Over The Moors E5 6b Ravenstones Takes the wall/groove left of Black Mountain Collage, above Pulpit Ridge. Good wire pocket available. Named after the first line of The Smith's song about the Moors Murderers. Dead Heat E5 6b Wharncliffe Solo. No gear with hideous landing but steady. Climb a slab (5c) to a small overlap. Undercut this and reach crimps, step above the overlap, and lay one up for the final reach/slap for the top. Heartless Hare E5 6a Froggatt Solo. Technically not too bad if you trust your feet and go steady. Has one very worrying smear move above the niche to reach sharp crimpy edges. F6a+ Climber: Graham Hewitt Pebble Mill E5 6b Burbage South Solo. Hard arete climbing and reachy finale above a unfriendly landing. More beta available from Rob Harper here [opens new window]. Swooper E5 6a Stanage Solo, though use a lashed-down belayer. Short but hard slab climb. First ascent climbed by Dawes on-sight, wire brushing as he went. You'll probably need to take one yourself. Sow's That E5 6b Brimham Powerful pull off the one-finger pocket in the overlap to smear up slab, with gear just below your feet. However the real crux is the hard rockover higher up - don't fall off this one!! F6c+ Climber: Readza Curving Arete E5 6b Black Rocks Solo. Hardest moves to start and to gain first good hold on arete, above a gruesome landing. The rest is straightforward and much easier. Early Riser E5 6a Earl Crag Solo. Hard for the grade, but a beautiful line. Tension builds as you gain height up the groove to the crux reach for the top with feet bridged against the very lip of the ramp, miles above a nightmare landing. Very unnerving as you really need to throw your weight forward over your feet to make the foot holds feel secure. A nasty F6b+
EASY BOLD and sustained HARD	High Noon E5 6a Caley Awesome hanging sharp arete. Lack of any gear above the junction with an HVS and sustained insecure climbing make this nudge up from E4 to E5. Ai No Corrida E5 6b Burbage North Short but action-packed hanging arete right of The Fin. Climbed with a side-runner on the right which isn't much use unless a side-rope is used. F7a Mr Mojo Rising E5 6b Wharncliffe Solo where it matters. Technical, fingery climbing all the way to the break, where you can place good medium Friends, relax, and romp over the roof and up the headwall. A complete sandbag at E4. F6c/6c+. White Wand E5 6a Stanage Solo. Tricky heel-hook/smear move to start the sustained laybacking up the arete proper (bit harder for the short, but not excessively so). Landing poor - spotters and blow-up bouncy castle useful. Many people think this is hard for E5 (it might go up to E6 in the new guidebook) but for some reason I think it's bog-standard E5: however, who am I to argue with the democratic process? F6b+ Juan Cur E5 6a Ramshaw The very steep arete left of The Untouchables. With F1.5s and F2s in the break and a large (H9+) Hex in the obvious slot, slap up to a nasty undercut move and better holds. Here the original line traversed left, but it makes more sense to finish up The Untouchables. A Meshuga for the E5 leader! F6c Clive Coolhead ... E5 6b Roaches, Lower Tier Fritghening slab padding with gear in the flake of Elegy and in The Bulger - grade can vary from E4-E6 depending how far up The Bulger you put gear, although you may find the crux of the whole route to be the off-width of The Bulger! Ok, by popular request, the full route name is: CLIVE COOLHEAD REALISES THE EXCITEMENT OF KNOWING YOU MAY BE THE AUTHOR OF YOUR OWN DEATH IS MORE INTENSE THAN ORGASM. F7a Reach For The Stye E5 6b Brimham Two F0.5s under the roof protect as you crank on the one finger pocket to cross through for the runnel, and catch the pocket. Place a Slider 1 semi-blind and over your fingers (RnR1 too small, maybe RnR2?) or clip the pre-placed one (advised). From the next pocket it's a bloody long way to a sloping top. Airbourne exit at this stage is ill advised, especially if you don't own the correct gear. The Marine Who Slept In E5 6a Ilkley Effectively solo. Very bold steep climbing up a brilliant looking scoop. Science Friction E5/6 6a Froggatt Very top end of the grade. Gear in the break at half-height is virtually redundant for the intricate friction moves above. Needs cleaning. F6c

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